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Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Hamas Leader: Why Should We Recognize Condoleezza or Israel's Right to Exist?

Special Dispatch - Palestinian AuthorityFebruary 1, 2006No. 1083

Hamas Leader Mahmoud Zahar on Al-Manar TV: "Palestine means Palestine in its Entirety - From the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River... We Cannot Give Up a Single Inch of it... Why Should We Recognize Condoleezza Rice...or Israel's Right to Exist?"

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Mahmoud Al-Zahar: "We will not give up the resistance in the sense of jihad, martyrdom-seeking, sacrifices, arrests, the demolition of homes, and the uprooting of trees, at the same time, nor the shattering of the Israeli enemy's honor in all the confrontations - the war of tunnels and of security against the Israeli enemy, which ultimately led to its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank.

"We will not give up this plan for the kind of plan that people associate with the Legislative Council - luxury cars, VIP permits, investments, and pockets full of millions, while 30-40% of the Palestinian people is writhing with hunger."

[...]

"We will not allow a situation in which a person who is wounded cannot be treated anywhere, unless he goes to the Israeli enemy, or is transferred across the border. Our education system will not represent Palestine as a coastal strip stretching from Rafah to Beit Hanoun. We will teach them their history and the geography of Palestine. Our Ministry of Culture will teach them how the martyr is turned into prose, literature, and poetry, and how a woman who used to cook and do the laundry turns into one of the heroes of Palestine.

"In addition, we will teach them how we can have an industry that is independent of the Israeli enemy. We will gradually get all the laborers back [from Israel], after supplying them with job opportunities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, where they will work in small and very small factories which will be independent of the Israeli enemy."

[...]

"Palestine means Palestine in its entirety - from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, from Ras Al-Naqura to Rafah. We cannot give up a single inch of it. Therefore, we will not recognize the Israeli enemy's [right] to a single inch. That is one thing.

"The second thing is that if the right of return is an individual right, neither Mahmoud Al-Zahar nor 'Abbas Zaki can relinquish it, because all these concessions will constitute a national catastrophe.

"The third point is that we can found a state on any piece of the land, and this will not mean we give up on any other part of the land."

[...]

Interviewer: "Condoleezza Rice has demanded that Hamas recognize Israel's right to exist. How do you respond?"

Mahmoud Al-Zahar: "Why should we recognize Condoleezza Rice... or Israel's right to exist? In this region we have faced Roman occupation, Persian occupation, Crusader occupation, British occupation - they are all gone. The Israeli enemy does not belong to the region. It does not belong to the region's history, geography, or faith. When you enter the land occupied in 1948, it is like entering an enclave. But when you go to Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt, you feel at home. It is your homeland."

[...]

"If at present we cannot bring about a decisive victory, which will restore all our rights - and there is a difference between a peaceful solution of surrender, which is temporary and is referred to as 'settlements,' and a peaceful solution which is based on justice, and means the return of all the land and all the refugees. We are saying that we may agree to found a state on any part of the land, but this must never be at the expense of the other parts.

"If today we are unable to win the conflict decisively, for reasons known to all, we must not pass on to our sons a disgraceful defeat by recognizing the Israeli enemy's right to exist, where it has no such right.

"If they claim that the right of return applies - even after 2,000, 3,000, or 10,000 years - to the Jews who used to be in Palestine, we say: Apply the same principle [to us]. We left Palestine only in 1948."

***************************************************The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.

MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with proper attribution.

Ariel Sharon is a man who always frightened me. Since he came to my attention when he served as Defense Minister, I perceived him as a loose cannon, someone who did more to threaten Israel's place in the world rather than protect it. When he became Prime Minister, my perceptions didn't change.

Yet his recent decision to form a new, centrist party got my attention. Here was a man formed by his experiences, yet he was willing to face those experiences head on and say, "No, I choose to try something new, something different." He chose to deal with the Palestinians on Israel's terms not their terms.

This is what makes a giant in history, in my humble opinion. This is a man of vision.

Which is why so many people, including me, are so heartbroken by his recent stroke and his fall from the pinnacle. He would have won reelection handily had he survived.

I don't know what the future holds, but I hope Israelis see their way to fulfilling Mr. Sharon's vision. Even though my admiration came reluctantly, I admire him nonetheless.

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About Me

Gary Aminoff is a Director of the Commercial Division (KW Commercial) of Keller Williams Realty Beverly Hills, and represents both buyers and sellers of income-producing properties, such as apartment buildings, office properties, industrial properties, shopping centers and retail facilities throughout the U.S. Gary Aminoff also heads up the commercial leasing activity for Keller Williams Beverly Hills, having represented tenants in leasing medical facilities, retail stores, warehouses, offices, and other property types for the past 30 years. Mr. Aminoff has acted as exclusive leasing agent for owners of all types of properties.

Additionally, Gary Aminoff is the Founder and President of Aminoff & Co. Realty Advisors, Inc. He has overall responsibility for the development, asset management, acquisition and operation of real estate assets for the company.

Mr. Aminoff has been active in all aspects of real estate since 1970, including acquisition, development, leasing, brokerage, management and finance. Prior to that he was a financial advisor to real estate investors and real estate developers in his role as a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Aminoff, through his various entities, has developed, brokered and/or acquired numerous apartment complexes, office buildings, industrial parks, shopping centers, and condominium projects throughout the United States. He has specialized in the development and management of apartment buildings, industrial buildings, office buildings and shopping centers in California, Utah, New York, Washington and Colorado.

Mr. Aminoff attended undergraduate school at the University of California at Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.) and attended post-graduate courses at the Anderson School of Management at U.C.L.A. He is a life member of the U.C.L.A. Alumni Association and a member of the Alumni Association of the Anderson School of Management. Mr. Aminoff received his Certified Public Accountant license in 1961 and has been a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Gary Aminoff is a licensed real estate broker in the State of California, is a member of the National Association of Realtors, the California Association of Realtors and the Beverly Hills/Greater Los Angeles Board of Realtors, of which he is a former President and Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Mr. Aminoff served on the faculty of the California Association of Realtors and lectured on Real Estate Investment Analysis, Real Estate Syndication and Real Estate Taxation at seminars for members of the Association. Further, Mr. Aminoff serves as an expert witness in court cases involving real estate limited partnership investor issues or real estate investment fraud or disclosure issues.

Aminoff & Co. is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (I.C.S.C.), the Real Estate Cyberspace Society (R.E.C.S.) and the International Real Estate Federation (F.I.A.B.C.I.).

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"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." - Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004)

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Gen. Douglas McArthur: Farewell Speech to West Point Cadets

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A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.